Under the Wire: Bad Boys Undercover Read Online Free PDF Page A

want to think about his ego or any other part of him. He possessed unbelievable skills with a gun, in the bedroom. Everywhere, really. He could even cook, when all she bothered to do was order takeout.
    Focusing on her rage was the only way to get through this. “So, my brother told you he lost contact with me, and you turned on the tracker, or whatever you did to find me, and came out here.”
    Reid shrugged. “Sure.”
    No, that wasn’t right. She sensed there was more to the story. Bad parts he wasn’t telling. “You just happened to be in Russia?”
    A huge grin spread across Parker’s face. “Montana.”
    The answer didn’t make any sense to her. “What?”
    “We were supposed to ride to Montana. Luckily, we hadn’t left DC yet.”
    She broke eye contact as she tried to process that bit of information. Papers blew around her feet. All harmless. The notebooks and laptops she’d collected contained the important information about the expedition. Unfortunately, most of the technology had been damaged and only the hidden notebooks survived that night.
    “So, this isn’t an Alliance assignment.” Which meant they didn’t have clearance. They didn’t understand the import of what was happening out here or how a caseof missing scientists made more sense than they might think. She didn’t wait for them to answer. “You have to leave. Now. Ten minutes ago, actually.”
    That didn’t make sense, she knew, but there were protocols. In the event of an emergency, she needed to contact specific people, none of whom were Reid. But he could get the call out since she hadn’t been able to raise anyone on either the satellite phone or radio back at the main camp. If he waited around until right before reinforcements came, she would not be upset about that.
    Reid treated her to a second exhale. This one longer and more dramatic. “That’s a ridiculous suggestion.”
    Parker made a face that suggested she wouldn’t find a partner in him on this one. “It kind of is.”
    “You don’t get it. This expedition is not . . .” Everything depended on her silence. Her team might need rescuing, but then again, silence might buy their freedom. She had no idea which choice to make.
    She’d waited, in hiding, for the attackers to come back. For her to pick up some stray sentence that might explain what was going on and how much danger surrounded them. She’d tried to trek to their main installation that first day after waking up alone and terrified, but the buffeting winds and what she suspected was a head injury stopped her. This morning she’d made it there only to find the buildings cleared and abandoned . . . except for those hidden notebooks.
    “Cara?” Reid skimmed his hand over her arm. “Finish the sentence.”
    “The expedition is not on the books. It is top secret and it’s clearly gone sideways.”
    “Good thing we specialize in the not-supposed-to-be-happening type of situation.” Parker walked a few steps away and started playing with the phone.
    With Parker’s attention drawn away from the silent surveillance he’d been conducting, Reid took over. He didn’t say anything. Didn’t even move. He just became more . . . aware. She couldn’t explain it. But she sensed the exact moment when he flipped from intently listening to her to focusing on the area around them.
    The strange covert tag team approach should have surprised her, but it didn’t. From the second she saw them climb over the crest of the hill, she sensed they were in sync. Two men cut from the same mold. Parker, younger with darker hair and a bit less of a regimented feel to him. Reid, hot, lethal, and a constant diversion from everything she should be thinking and feeling.
    Which brought her zapping back to reality. She wanted their expertise, but Reid could not do his usual rush-in-and-take-over job. “You can’t be here. Hell, I’m not supposed to be here.”
    “And we’re going to talk through all of that, but not right this